Fukushima, Hanford and the Continuing Radioactive Disasters That Critically Need Solutions Right Now

What strikes me most about this – is the seemingly infinitesimal scale of the nuclear changes that are occurring which yield radioactive decay that is so dangerous and the massive scale of the materials containing it – in contaminated water such at Fukushima right now and in spent fuel rods, containment ponds holding them and sitting at nuclear waste and containment facilities. It is hard to conceive both those things at all, let alone to realize the on-going and long term impacts of them.

In considering solutions, they must be both massive in their application, do-able and work simultaneously at both extremes of the scale to be effective. The things that make these materials radioactive are occurring at such a minute level and yet the mass of materials are mind-boggling in their entirety.

– cricketdiane

I had read this article – although there are a number of them lately with more and more insistent calls for help from a greater community to render solutions –

Fukushima operator pleads for international help as radiation crisis deepens

Nuclear Experts: One century before Japan tries to deal with Fukushima’s melted cores? — “More likely what’s left of reactors will be left in situ for 100 years or more” (VIDEO)

‘Beyond the Cloud’ Yanaoshi 3.11, June 3, 2013 – French nuclear engineer Gérard Aleton (at 3:30 in): When a nuclear power plant is built […] workers can access all building parts, including the tank — But dismantling is another story. […] There’s no longer a conventional access to those parts of the building. No human can enter those tanks and radioactive areas. (etc.)

That list contained this written material from the link below it – the explanation is sort of basic and after reading a bit of it – went to wikipedia to look up radio-nuclides to see some of the half-life spans of these elements –

Alpha Particle Radioactivity Decay

An alpha particle is an ionized helium nucleus. It consists of two neutrons and two protons bound together. The measured electric charge is 9.58 x 10-10 esu (electrostatic units) or about twice the basic electronic charge. The mass is that of the helium nucleus which is 4.003 amu (atomic mass units).

Examples of alpha particle radioactivity decay are given in Table 1-1.

Alpha decays occur naturally in the uranium, actinium, and thorium radioactivity decay series. The decay process can be described by using the Bohr-like model that was used above to describe neutron and proton particle decay. Here the alpha decay process is assumed to be triggered by decay of one of the neutrons in the parent atom to produce a proton the can cause electrostatic ejection of the alpha particle from the atom. (pg.10)

Radionuclide (wikipedia)

A radionuclide, or a radioactive nuclide, is an atom with an unstable nucleus, characterized by excess energy available to be imparted either to a newly created radiation particle within the nucleus or via internal conversion.

There was an article about the re-manufacture of nuclear waste into a more stable and manageable material from India and its engineering geniuses but I will have to check my other computer for it or find it again.

That, and thinking about the coconut trees on the Pacific Islands where the nuclear tests were done that literally were found to have taken these radioactive materials from the soil and sand and rainwater, then processed them through their plant chemistry to have cleaned them from the soil. The isotopes were found in the coconut milk however. But, it lends the question – what, in that plant allowed it to do that? Hkmmm…

Just thinking about it.

There look to be a lot of technologies which suggest answers and some research done already on the question of getting this nuclear waste contained and something done with it to make it safe, but all of those things suggested and researched can’t be done on the massive scale that accidents like Fukushima require. 300 tons of contaminated radioactive water going out of a leak – is a massive lot especially if it is happening to that volume each day – no matter where it goes. The sea can’t process that in our lifetimes – can it? The ground and rivers can’t – can they? It looks like any technological answer would require a much bigger test than any lab could offer before even being used on the actual event despite the fact that it is currently continuing to unfold much to everyone’s detriment.

Hmmm – needs a better answer.

I was just wandering through some info about it tonight and thought to post it here. – cricketdiane

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I’m adding this to check later at the library – found by google search for – wolfram radioactive decay

Table of Radioactive Isotopes

A convenient source of radiation data which incorporates the changes dictated by present-day science and computer technology, presented with a high degree of uniformity, completeness, and consistency in both the data and appendices. Includes tables of adopted properties for all radiations emitted by nuclei, which were derived from experimental data plus reliable calculations, along with adopted properties based on statistical analyses of existing experimental data alone. Other derived adopted properties (e.g. average photon energies per disintegration) are calculated when strong user demand is anticipated. Over 260 drawings accompany the text.